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McGair: One step at a time for Daniel Bard folllowing his first outing with the PawSox

By editor

Created 06/09/2012 - 00:26

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
PAWTUCKET – Here’s what Daniel Bard had to say following his one-inning outing for the Pawtucket Red Sox Friday night:

Bard’s general reaction to the three runs he allowed on 25 pitches, 16 for strikes:
“The best thing about throwing down here (in the minors) is that you can kind of throw out the results and not worry about wins and losses too much. I’m trying some tweaks mechanically and I think they were really good on some pitches and that’s what I was looking for, to get some feel.
“I didn’t expect to be perfect on every pitch, but now we go from here.”

Whether he came away encouraged or discouraged:
“It’s hard to say. I don’t want to dig too deep into it, but it’s hard to take something away from one inning other than how you felt.”

Thoughts on his velocity, which topped at 96 miles per hour and generally resided in the 93-94 mph range:
“I think what we’re trying to do is get some of that power back and direction. They really go hand and hand … using my lower body and getting everything moving toward the target area. I think the command and velocity will come together.”

On throwing just one inning:
“It was a tough situation and such a weird outing. You prepare as a starter and know you’re going one inning. You try and block that out and attack every hitter like it’s your last, but it’s little bit of a weird mentality.”

On what lies ahead come his next outing on Monday night:
“I think I might go two innings. I’ve told (Red Sox officials) that I can do this out of the bullpen, but they want me to keep starting and keep that routine in place. We’ll talk more (on Saturday).

PawSox manager Arnie Beyeler on Bard:
“He was one pitch away from getting out of the inning [Bard allowed a two-out, two-strike, two-run double to the Indians’ Jeff Larish]. He’ll be fine. He just needs to throw and get some confidence back.”